Tare: ‘Maignan wants to stay at Milan, happy Nkunku is here’

Milan director Igli Tare confirms Mike Maignan ‘wants to remain’ with a new contract, while he has ‘great expectations’ for Ardon Jashari, and comments on Christopher Nkunku’s future.

Their trip to Fiorentina kicks off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at 14.00 GMT (15.00 CET).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the Liveblog.

This weekend represents a big opportunity for the Rossoneri, as with Inter and Napoli facing each other this evening at San Siro, it opens up a chance to shake things up in the Scudetto race.

“The table says that we are in a positive period of form, our first half of the season had some important results. There is much to still improve, but we are hopeful, and also realise we must make as few errors as possible from now to the end of the campaign,” Tare told DAZN Italia.

After his exit seemed practically certain, the negotiations for a new Maignan contract suddenly took a twist and he is now on the verge of signing an extension.

“We know that the rapport with Mike is extraordinary, he likes the Milan project, and wants to remain. We have to wait until there is the green light, but I am confident common sense will win out, and he would be an important figure for the future of this project,” assured Tare.

With Thursday’s clash against Como coming up, and fresh off a draining 1-1 draw with Genoa, Milan give Niclas Fullkgrug his first start since the transfer from West Ham United.

However, Rafael Leao, Luka Modric, Adrien Rabiot, Youssouf Fofana and Christopher Nkunku are not at 100 per cent, with Fikayo Tomori suspended and Santiago Gimenez injured.

Jashari finally gets his first Serie A start, having suffered from injury issues since his arrival from Club Brugge.

“We have great expectations for him, as he showed last season some wonderful performances,” continued Tare.

“He had this incident at the start of the season that basically kept him out for four months, he’s been doing much better for the last two months, played in the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa, proving he belongs at a club like Milan.”

There have been many transfer stories around interest in Nkunku, so Tare was asked will he remain as a Milan player?

“Nkunku is a Milan player and we are happy that he is still a Milan player,” was the response.